Hyper local heats up

Organic, local and all natural foods are the key trends in food and that’s led to an influx of urban greenhouses, rooftop gardens and hydroponic operations.

A report in FoodDive.com said that edible gardens are sprouting up at baseball fields like AT&T Park in San Francisco. Beehives are also being placed on roofs of hotels and other buildings in cities around the world, and urban rooftop algae farms in Bangkok are experimenting with growing edible items like spirulina seaweed.

The hyper-local trend as a point of differentiation for some grocers.

Take Edible Garden, a family of co-op local growers across the United States specialize in fresh, hydroponic produce that offers consumers herbs and leafy greens directly in the supermarket, while retailers like Whole Foods and its Gowanus Brooklyn store are growing produce on the roof. Target is also looking at vertical farming,